[1] The original Aiwa company was founded in 1951 and was one of the leading creators of audio products such as speakers, boomboxes and stereo systems.

In Japanese the Aiwa name is a combination of 愛 (ai) and 環 (wa), roughly meaning "circle of love".

The company was founded on June 20, 1951, as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd., manufacturing microphones, and changed its name to Aiwa Co., Ltd. (アイワ株式会社), on March 10, 1959.

[5] The founder Mitsuo Ikejiri served as president until 1969[citation needed] when Sony purchased a majority share in Aiwa.

[8][9] Despite not having the brand recognition of Sony, Aiwa products were popular due to their more affordable cost, while still providing good quality.

[15] With growing competition throughout the late 1990s from cheaper Asian manufacturers, and shrinking demand for its products, the company slid towards bankruptcy.

[16] In March 2001, the company's president, Masayoshi Morimoto, announced a major restructuring, including the halving of its workforce, following a second consecutive loss–making year.

[citation needed] Aiwa manufactured more than 89 percent of its output outside Japan, with a heavy emphasis on the lower-cost southeast Asian nations of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

[citation needed] Financially-troubled Aiwa was fully purchased by the Sony Corporation,[19] becoming a wholly owned subsidiary effective as of December 1, 2002.

[20][21] On January 8, 2003,[22] Sony announced the rebranding and relaunch of Aiwa as a "youth focused, PC-centric" electronics brand.

The direction proposed was to capitalize on the growing trend among personal-computer-literate teenagers and young adults to use their PCs for all forms of entertainment (television, films, music, chat).

(Electronic Anti-Shock System) feature with the aim of allowing smooth, skip-free Audio CD playback despite damaged media and external shaking.

An American audio company known as Hale Devices, Inc. were granted the rights to the brand name from Sony in the US market and abroad.

[34][35] Following bankruptcy proceedings, the assets were sold to a new company (Aiwa Acquisitions LLC) affiliated with Sakar International, Inc. in November 2021,[36][clarification needed] with Sakar being a licensee to Infinity Lifestyle Brands, thus making Aiwa a sister brand of Altec Lansing in the North American market.

[1][51] In June 2022, Aiwa Co., Ltd. announced that it granted the use of its trademark in the digital field to a Japanese contract manufacturer named JENESIS.